Alrighty man. I hope it goes easily for you. (I'd be so lost trying to do this sort of thing myself. @_@) And I'll be off to Mitsuwa so I'll hopefully find something interesting there to talk about on the forum. Not to mention it will be my last time to go in quite some time due to insane gas prices.

If you are referring to a variable or possibly a number version stored in the database, then perhaps the rebuild will work. You normally have to run a script once you setup a forum and each time, you upgrade the scripts or database. You may have overlooked a step or you may have downloaded a bad mod that had an old script. Try the rebuild script first and see if it corrects your problems. If not, I would start fresh by downloading the latest version again (fresh) and installing it in another folder which you can rename later. Follow-up the new test install with the mods (fresh download again), and then use the rebuild script (linked above). You should be able to pull the same database or simply setup a new database and then import the data into your test forum to see if it resolves your issue. If your problem is fixed, then you can always switch the URL or something to the newly created version.

I've been in your shoes, so I know what it's like. When I first started, I would spend weeks installing, deleting, starting over, downloading, uploading, and restarting again when the fix for my problem was actually very simple like running a rebuild script. Fortunately, you're on Unix, so your job is much easier than what I experienced with setting up anything on MS SQL and IIS.

I've never used PHP but I think you'll find many web applications operate the same, especially when they're written to be used by any site online with plug-n-play ability, like mods that enable an endless amount of features.

When using free scripts (I used a free app), I think you will find that maintaining a 'modified' application is really a 'mod' community effort. You really have to keep pace with the forum if you're using mods, especially if the mod is not approved by the actual creators of the forum's main application. For example, each time the main forum releases a new version, you may need to find upgrades for all the mods from where you got each mod, which can be a nightmare if you don't keep notes and use a lot of different mods.

Yeah sometimes the mods are a pain. They say v3 will have a better system.

I think like vBulletin where the mods are actually separated (via XML?) from the actual forum code and then get compiled + cached. So when an update comes, it will just compile again since the forum code isn't hard-coded modified like what phpbb v2 does.

Anyway first phase of update is done. Should notice slightly faster as the cache system wasn't working properly before.